


New Beginnings

by Persiflage



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fingerfucking, First Kiss, First Time, Holding Hands, Ice Cream, Inhumans (Marvel), Near Future, Older Man/Younger Woman, Prosthetic hand, Secret Projects, Secret Relationship, Skye's father - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 14:41:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4104598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-S2 finale: a piece of news about someone in Coulson's past leads to a change in Coulson and Skye's relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. News

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zauberer_sirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/gifts).



> Okay, so I didn't expect to be posting another fic so soon - but after writing the hand-holding scene on Sat night, then most of the ice cream-eating scene on Sunday, I brought both together into one, rather longer, fic.  
> This is partly zauberer_sirin's fault - she put the ice cream eating scene in my head, at any rate!

It's late evening at the Playground and the Base is quiet when Skye suddenly asks, "Have you seen this?" thereby dragging Coulson's attention from the report he's been buried in for the past couple of hours.

"Hmm?" He looks up at her as she rounds the corner of his desk, her tablet in her hand. "Seen what?" He wonders what fresh hell is about to descend, although Skye doesn't look as if hell is about to descend – she just looks slightly nervous, as if she's afraid of what his reaction is going to be to whatever she's about to show him.

She passes him the tablet, but stands at his elbow, her eyes on his face as he looks down, then gapes at the sight of Audrey Nathan, his once-upon-a-time girlfriend, in a wedding dress, on the arm of a very tall, handsome man. Skye's hand lands on his shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze, pulling him up out of his daze.

"Phil?" She almost whispers his name, and at first he thinks it's weird that she's using his first name, but then he realises it's not weird at all – it's comforting. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he says, and puts the tablet down on the desk so he can rub his right hand over his face (he wonders, briefly, if he'll ever get used to missing his left hand). He drops his hand and Skye crouches down beside his chair, turning it a little towards her. Her big brown eyes are soft with worry as she gazes up at him, and he unthinkingly reaches out to slide his fingertips over her cheek. She gives him a half smile, then cups his hand with hers, as he'd done to her back in the theatre in San Juan, after her father nearly beat him to death.

"Phil?" 

"I'm okay," he says. "I'm happy for her." She raises an eyebrow, looking a little doubtful, and he gives her a half smile back. "I am." He wonders if he's being too insistent, but truly, he is happy for Audrey. He's glad she's healed, and moved on, and found someone else.

She grabs his right knee and pushes herself upwards, pressing her lips to his forehead in a fleeting kiss, then stands straight and offers him her hand.

"What?" he asks.

"We should take a break," she says. "We've been holed up in here for hours, and everyone else has gone to bed." 

He takes her hand, letting her pull him up from the chair, and smiling genuinely for a moment as he realises just how physically strong she's become. She smiles back, then leads him out of his office, his hand still clasped in hers, and down to the kitchen.

She leads him to the couches at the far side of the room, and he sits down. "I know just the thing," she tells him, her tone back to its usual cheeriness. "Stay right there."

Coulson swallows down a protest, and simultaneously tries not to react overtly to her telling him what to do, then watches as she strides across the room to the refrigerator and grabs something from the interior, before rummaging in a drawer. As she comes back he realises she's carrying a two-pint tub of ice cream and two spoons, and he chuckles softly.

"That's your solution to everything, isn't it?" he teases.

She pouts at him, and he chuckles again, then accepts one of the spoons that she holds out to him. "Don't tease or I might not let you share."

"Yes ma'am."

She smirks at his easy capitulation, then sits beside him and tugs the top off the ice cream tub. "Since this is your pity party, you get first dibs." She holds out the tub and he digs his spoon in.

"You do know I'm okay with this news, don't you?" he asks, wondering if she thinks he's just putting on a brave face.

"Yeah, but there's nothing wrong with having a pity party anyway, not if it means ice cream." 

He shakes his head, then puts the spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, fighting the urge to moan as the flavour of chocolate fudge bursts on his tongue.

"Good, eh?" she asks, smirking at him as if she knows exactly how he wants to react.

"Very," he tells her once he's swallowed the mouthful down.

She leans into his shoulder, and between bites of ice cream, begins telling him about a break-up of her own, when she was only fourteen, and how she'd snuck out of the orphanage to "drown her sorrows in chocolate fudge ice cream."

"The nuns didn't allow us to have ice cream, or candy," she tells him, her voice somehow becoming more intimate as she tells the tale.

In response, Coulson tells her of his first break up – he'd been fifteen and his girlfriend was eighteen and going off to college. 

"Was she your first?" Skye asks, rather boldly, he thinks.

"Yeah. She taught me a lot about how to give a woman pleasure."

"Oh yeah?" Her voice is full of amusement, and her eyes full of curiosity, he thinks, and he feels the tips of his ears beginning to burn as he realises how dangerous this conversation could be. "Like what?"

"Oh, you know," he says, a little vaguely, aware that his pants are beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. "Stuff."

"What sort of stuff, AC?" She seems to be impossibly close, and he swears he feels her breath on his cheek and chin.

He clears his throat. "Um, kissing, and, uh, how to touch a woman." His whole body feels flushed now, and he desperately wants to adjust himself, but he doesn't dare.

"That sounds – very interesting," Skye tells him. She leans in even closer and he feels her teeth scrape lightly over his throat, and he groans her name.

"Is this okay?" she whispers.

"Oh yeah," he agrees fervently. 

She presses her mouth to his and he eagerly opens his lips to her. She slides her tongue inside, her hands gently clasping his shoulders.

"Phil?"

"Skye?"

"Do you want to come back to mine?"

She sounds a little hesitant, he thinks, and he leans back so he can look her in the eyes. "Come back to mine," he suggests. "My bed's bigger than yours."

She gives him a delighted grin, then she drops her right hand from his shoulder to rest lightly on his sling. "This gonna be a problem?"

He feels unbearably touched by the delicate way she touches his arm, and the understanding in her eyes as she asks the question.

"I don't think so," he says, and she nods, then pulls away, getting to her feet and holding out her left hand. He takes it and she scoops up the spoons and the ice cream, dumping the former in the sink, and the latter back into the refrigerator. 

He tugs gently on her arm, and she smirks at him, then swings their hands back and forth for a moment, before gesturing with her other hand for him to lead the way.

He smirks back, then turns and heads towards his quarters, Skye's hand clasped firmly in his. He's slightly surprised to realise he has no qualms about them doing this, but he's pleased that he doesn't. He's wanted to be with Skye for so long now – this is the fulfilment of a long-held desire, and he feels very lucky that she wants this too.


	2. Something New

They're sitting cross-legged on Coulson's bed facing each other, and neither of them has made a move to get undressed yet, all because Skye had said, as he closed the door to his room, "Phil, there's something I want to say first."

"What is it?" he asks, wondering what's changed between the kitchen and here.

"I would never tell you how to think or feel, okay, but I want to tell you what I think and feel."

He quirks an eyebrow at her, then nods for her to continue.

She places her right hand on his foreshortened arm, then slips her other hand under his sling to rest on his heart. "These don't worry me," she tells him in a soft voice. "I don't want you to ever worry that I'll be horrified or that I'll find your scars ugly, 'cos nothing about you is ugly." She curls her fingers carefully around his arm, holding it lightly. "This and this – " She taps her fingers on his chest. "They're just signs that you're a brave and selfless man. The kind of man who puts other people's safety first. The kind of man who wants to help people. The guy who wants to be the shield, not the weapon. In other words, a hero." 

"Skye," he whispers, and she leans in to press a brief kiss to his mouth.

"That's why I love you," she says. "You and me, we're alike, you know. We see the world similarly. I've wanted this with you from day one. Didn't think we'd ever have it, you know, but I always wanted it – even when you were shutting me out and keeping secrets about the carving." She kisses him again, then pulls back to look at him, and he reaches up to cup her cheek again.

"Thank you, Skye." He slides his hand round to the back of her neck, then kisses her, hearing her moan when he teases her mouth open. 

After that they take things slowly. Skye helps him to get undressed, then encourages him to lie back and watch while she undresses herself – as if she knows he'll enjoy watching her, which, of course, he does.

"You're gorgeous," he tells her when she's naked, and she gives him a bashful sort of grin.

"You're pretty gorgeous yourself, mister," she says, then laughs when he rolls his eyes. "No you are. You're in really good shape, and you don't look your age. 

"Thanks."

She sits astride his thighs, her hands on his shoulders, and asks, "What's first?"

"First?" he asks.

"Yeah. What do you want to do first? 'cos seems to me you're the kinda guy that likes foreplay as much as the actual fucking."

"You've given this some thought," he observes, amused and slightly horrified by the idea, but mostly aroused.

"A bit," she says, sounding a little cagey. 

He leans forward and kisses her. "I don't mind that you've thought about it. I have too, once or twice." She gives him a smug grin and he shakes his head slightly, then says, "I want to eat you out."

"Yeah?" He nods and she grins even more, then tilts her head to one side, giving him a considering look. "Be easiest if you lie on your back and I kneel over you, won't it?" she asks.

He looks down at his left arm, then swallows a lump of emotion, before nodding. "Yeah," he agrees, aware of how hoarse he sounds.

"Coulson." Skye leans in and wraps her arms around him, her torso plastered against his. He slips his right arm around her, and she whispers a question, "Both arms?"

He hesitates, and she whispers again. "It's okay if you don't want to."

He thinks about it, then lifts his left arm and folds it across her back, grasping the shortened forearm with his right hand. She nuzzles the side of his neck, then nips at his earlobe before whispering, "Feels good to me."

He feels like he might cry, and she seems to sense that because she begins kissing his face, light touches of her lips all over his cheeks, forehead, nose, then his lips.

"I love you, Phil," she says softly. "Doesn't matter how many arms you've got."

He feels as if his heart's leapt into his throat at her words. He has to swallow hard before he can answer her. "I love you, too." 

She begins kissing him, soft and slow at first, but it soon builds in intensity between them, and he can feel the heat between her thighs against his skin. He drops his arms from around her body and brings his hand between their bodies so he can slide first one, then two, fingers inside her, and she moans into his mouth. She shifts so he push his fingers deeper inside her slick heat, and it's his turn to moan when she comes, her inner walls clenching tightly around his penetrating fingers.

"Forget eating you out," he mutters when her muscles finally relax enough to let him slip his fingers free. "I need to be inside you. Right now." She chuckles, but he's not joking – his cock is throbbing with his need to fuck her.

"Condoms?" she asks, and he nods towards the drawer beside the bed, and she gives him a wicked grin, then leans sideways, her knees still pressing against his outer thighs, and pulls the drawer open. 

He feels an unexpected thrill when Skye rolls the condom down over his cock: he's not sure anyone's every done that for him before, and it seems more erotic than he'd imagined it being.

Once his prick's safely sheathed, she lifts herself up, her hand wrapped around the base of his cock, then lowers herself down slowly – maddeningly slowly, he feels.

"That feels good," he tells her, a bit breathless.

"Yeah," she agrees, equally breathless.

She doesn't move for a minute or two, and he appreciates the chance to get used to the feeling of her slick heat wrapped around his cock.

"I – uh – I probably – oh God!" The last two words are an involuntary exclamation as Skye deliberately tightens her muscles around him.

She does it again, and he gasps, "Fuck, Skye!" She begins moving, slowly at first, then gradually picking up speed, and he wraps both arms around her again. "I'm not gonna last," he warns her, and she smirks at him.

"Doesn't matter," she says reassuringly.

He's right, he doesn't last very long, but she doesn't seem to mind one bit. They fall asleep with Skye spooning him, her hand over his heart, and Coulson feels better than he has at any time in the last few weeks since he lost his hand.


	3. A New Hand

They walk down the street side by side, coming back from a visit to Skye's father. They're heading to a motel for the night before Skye goes on to meet an Inhuman girl tomorrow, and as they walk, Skye talks, gesticulating animatedly with her right hand, even as her arm brushes against Coulson's left arm (that's how close they're walking). Then as Skye lowers her right hand momentarily, Coulson grabs her hand in his still-new left hand and squeezes her fingers. She turns her head towards him and grins widely, eyes alight with laughter and love, before she squeezes back. A few steps more and she tugs him to a standstill, bumping her shoulder against his, before leaning in to kiss him deeply. They enjoy the kiss, particularly the fact that the people around them are indifferent or oblivious, rather than watchful or curious as the people back at the Playground too often are.

When they pull apart to catch their breath, they grin at each other in obvious delight, before resuming their walk, hand-in-hand, and their pace quickening at the prospect of the evening and night to come.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson's only had his new robotic hand for a couple of weeks and he's still getting used to being two-handed again, but he'll freely admit that the best bit is being able to touch Skye with both hands again, or being able to prop himself over her as he slowly makes love to her.

Tonight in this strange motel is the first time he's tried using his new left hand to fingerfuck her, and judging by the way she's writhing on the bed, her moans becoming increasingly noisy, he hasn't lost the knack of doing this with his left hand.

When she comes her back and hips arch up off the bed as she cries his name, and he feels his cock throbbing inside his boxers. She sprawls bonelessly on her back, her breathing ragged, and he watches her with what he'll admit is a smug smile.

"There's definitely nothing wrong with that new hand," she says after she's caught her breath, and he grins.

"Glad to hear that," he tells her.

"You're such a smooth bastard," she observes, and he chuckles. 

She sits up beside him, then pushes him down onto his back and straddles him, her wet sex pressing against his swollen shaft – he can feel her slick heat even through the cotton of his boxers, and he thinks his cock might be getting harder, although that ought to be impossible.

He moans when she begins rubbing herself against him. "Please, Skye. Please take my boxers off," he says, beginning to feel a little desperate.

She smirks, and then reaches down between their bodies to ease his prick through the opening in his boxers. "I think I prefer to do it this way," she says, and he groans as she thumbs the slit on the tip. "Okay?"

He nods quickly. "Please, Skye." He's begging now, and he doesn't care – he just wants to be inside her, filling her with his achingly hard cock.

"Patience, Phil," she chides him, her eyes bright with amusement, and a laugh in her voice.

"I don't think I can," he tells her.

"Can what?"

"Be patient."

She laughs and he feels a surge of desire for her; he sees her eyes widen and can hear her breath coming more quickly, and he knows that she's sensing the change in his vibrations, and has noticed that he's more aroused than he was two minutes ago. She drops her left hand (her right is clasping the base of his cock), and he groans loudly when he feels her vibrating the air over her clit, which he can feel too. 

"Skye!" he groans, then groans a second time when she tightens her grasp on his cock, evidently intending to keep him from coming too soon.

She comes hard, moaning his name over and over, and he thinks his name has never sounded so good as when his young lover moans it as she orgasms.

He clasps her hips, watching her as she comes down, and when she opens her eyes and smiles down at him, he smiles back. "Okay?" he asks, and she nods, then pushes herself upwards to take his cock inside herself.

"You sensed me getting more aroused, didn't you?" he asks as she settles astride him, his prick buried deep inside her.

She nods. "Yeah. The more often we do this, the easier it gets."

"I'm never gonna be able to hide anything from you, am I?" he teases.

She frowns. "Do you want to?" Her tone is serious, and her expression thoughtful.

"Only insofar as I do have a little pride left still, and I'd prefer not to constantly telegraph my state of mind to you."

She leans in and kisses him quick and hard, nipping at his bottom lip. "Phil, you've never been able to hide that from me, not really."

He sighs. "So much for the professional spy."

She laughs, then begins to move, and he stops thinking about being professional, or not, and concentrates instead on bringing her off again before he comes.

Afterwards they shower, but separately, then dress and go out for dinner at a nearby restaurant. Skye likes the trips to see her father, and is glad that Coulson is willing to come with her whenever he can get away from the Playground. It's not just that she gets to spend time with her father as well as her lover, but the fact that no one's looking over their shoulders all the time. At the Base they have to be very discreet – no 'canoodling', as he calls it, during office hours or anywhere in public. While Coulson's core team of May, Fitz, Simmons, Mack, Bobbi, and Hunter are all aware that his relationship with her has become even closer since their experiences with the Inhumans, they've been careful not to make it obvious it's become sexual. Agent Weaver and the rest of the Council still don't approve of Coulson's prioritising of Skye, but they're based on the Helicarrier, so are less likely to notice that she is working in Coulson's office whenever she's at the Base.

Of course she's no longer at the Base 24/7 these days, and while she knows that Coulson misses her as much as she misses him when she's away, she also knows that they're both resigned to the situation – the Caterpillars project requires her absence so that she can meet with Inhumans and other Gifted or enhanced people to introduce them to SHIELD, and make sure those people who are different know that there's someone they can call if they run into difficulties, or if they just need someone who'll understand if they want to talk.

She's got her own team of people she can call in to assist her with the project: Dr Garner is on call for psych evaluations, and she's very glad to have him on board; Mike Peterson drops by at regular intervals to talk to other enhanced people, while Lincoln's the project's doctor – he mostly deals with the Inhumans, but he'll help with the gifted and enhanced people, too, if they need medical assistance. And just last week Akela Amador arrived at the secret base that Coulson had turned over to Skye now that the Helicarrier project's complete. Skye's still getting to know Amador properly, but she likes what she's seen so far – the two have been spending time on the mats together, and Skye's been enjoying the challenge of training with someone new.

As they make their way back to the motel, Skye can't help wishing that they didn't have to go their separate ways tomorrow. She doesn't say anything to Coulson, though – she doesn't want to seem needy, and she knows how busy he always is – she's grateful to have had even this snatched time with him.

He slides his new hand into hers as they walk and when he squeezes her fingers she looks up. "Penny for them," he says.

She shakes her head. "Nothing important."

He gives her a sceptical look, but doesn't argue. "I was thinking I might come with you tomorrow, if that's okay?" She stares at him, speechless with surprise, and he quickly says, "But not if you think I'll be in the way."

She shakes her head. "You could never be in the way. But don't you have a ton of stuff to do back at the Playground?"

He gives a shrug. "Nothing that won't keep for 24 hours."

"Really?" She hardly dares to believe her luck.

"Really. I take it the idea doesn't horrify you?"

She chuckles. "Of course not. I was just thinking that I wished we weren't going our separate ways. Have you learned to read my mind?"

It's his turn to chuckle. "Nope. I'm just being selfish."

"I could stand you being selfish more often," she tells him.

He gently tugs her into his arms. "I'll bear that in mind," he says, and kisses her so thoroughly that she feels a bit weak-kneed.

"Get a room!" shouts a teenage boy as he whizzes by on his skateboard, and Coulson gives her a wide-eyed look before they start laughing. 

"He's got a point," Skye observes.

"And we have a very nice room," Coulson agrees, unwinding his arms and setting off again towards the motel.

As they walk she thinks of her father's favourite phrase: best day ever.


End file.
